Thunderstorms
by SakuraNights01
Summary: Hubert makes a delivery/visit to Pascal during a storm, but is startled by a new discovery. HubertXPascal


Of all the things he wasn't expecting, why did it have to be a thunderstorm? And in Zavhert, of all places! At the very least, Hubert would've expected a snowstorm, but this was unorthodox, at best.

As if _that_ were the strangest thing he'd ever experienced in his life.

Trudging through snow and rain wasn't how he'd planned to spend his day, but he'd been asked to deliver some important notes from the labs to the Amarcian Enclave. Pascal might be onto a breakthrough with the fire cryas project if she wasn't going down to get them herself.

But him, of all people? She probably just wanted to chat. Not that he really minded - in fact, one could even say he was looking forward to seeing her again - but he _did_ have work to think of, too. She was lucky he and his men just so happened to be passing through when the request reached him. She could have just as easily gotten Captain Malik to deliver them to her, but - typical - she thought of him first. It was almost flattering, but if he hadn't wanted to see her so much, he might've ordered someone else to take the documents to her.

The long and arduous trek up the mountain made the teleportation pad into the enclave a sight for sore eyes. Hubert was soaked to the bone and at the very end of his patience with this whole endeavor. He stepped onto the platform, and in a flash of light he was transported into the Amarcian Enclave. It was much warmer down here, so his clothes would probably dry quickly. One peek showed that the documents were, in fact, dry and safe under his coat, so the trip wasn't a lost cause (as he had begun to fear halfway through the journey). On a path he had (at some point) made sure to commit to memory, he begun the walk to Pascal's home.

Surprisingly enough, the thunderstorm could be heard even in the enclave. Booming thunder echoed throughout the place - it was either very loud, or the enclave wasn't as deep in the mountain as he'd assumed. By the time he reached her doorstep, his clothes had nearly dried off, though they were still somewhat damp. He secretly hoped he still looked at least presentable in the slightest (though he knew she wouldn't care either way).

He knocked on the door, but received no response. Loud grinding noises could be heard inside, and he figured she was probably neck-deep in yet another project.

"Pascal! Can you hear me?" he called out as he knocked again. The noises inside didn't stop, and after waiting another few minutes with no answer, he yelled out "I'm coming in!" and opened the door.

The place was as disastrous as he remembered: gadgets, tools, and various other contraptions and parts littered the room. Pascal was huddled in the corner, drilling at some parts of a strange, cubical-shaped machine.

"Pascal!" he called out again over the racket. This time, she heard him and immediately stopped working.

"Oh! It's Hu! How're ya doing?" With a bright grin, Pascal hopped up and bounded her way over to him in a matter of seconds. Only she could possibly know how to maneuver around her room so quickly, he noted amusedly. "You could've just knocked, y'know!"

"Pascal, I was standing outside your front door knocking and calling for you for nearly 5 minutes!" Hubert began to admonish her, but stopped when he reminded himself why he was even here in the first place. "I believe you had requested these documents," he cleared his throat and slipped into his 'official' voice easily as he pulled said documents from his inner coat pocket and handed them to her.

"Ooh, thanks! These are gonna help me out a bunch with my project!" She took the paperwork and scanned over them briefly before grinning back to him. "C'mere, I wanna show you what I'm working on!"

She grabbed his arm and led him through the obstacle course to the corner where her machine lay waiting. Upon further inspection, it appeared to be a small oven of sorts. He posed this speculation to Pascal, to which she replied with a cheery smile.

"You got it! I'm trying to use this as a way to provide heat for the homes in Fendel using small amounts of fire cryas! They're small enough to be put into any room, and they'll be portable too! Oh, and…"

Hubert smirked as she rambled on and on about different aspects of her creation. Ever the genius, it was nice to see she hadn't changed after these past few months away from each other. She continued speaking, but quickly trailed off when thunder sounded out. Hubert, concerned by the sudden uncharacteristic quietness from the girl, took a step forward.

"...Pascal, are you oka-"

Thunder rumbled out again, louder and sharper this time, and he was startled by a loud "yipe!" from Pascal. She dropped to the ground and performed an impressive army roll until she was well hidden under her bed. Hubert blinked in utter confusion for a moment before kneeling down until he could see her peeking out from under the furniture.

"What was _that_?"

"Hm? Ah, nothing, Hu! Hey, did you see where the fire cryas goes on the oven? It's actually kinda-"

She was cut off again by another peal of thunder and hid her face in her arms with a small whimper. Realization dawned on Hubert then, and he sat down on the floor beside the bed, still watching her carefully.

"...Are you afraid of thunder?"

She fidgeted a little bit, before nodding slightly.

"...Y-yeah… it's uh…"

Thunder, of all things to be afraid of… it was almost humorous, but this situation wasn't a laughing matter, and he wouldn't dare hurt their friendship with such cruelty. His only option was to approach cautiously and offer comfort when he could.

"It's just thunder, And entirely harmless to us, especially since we're in the enclave," he pointed out, doing his best to keep his voice even and calm.

"Yeah, but why does the whole _cracka-boom_ have to be so loud?" she moaned and curled in on herself more. She clearly hadn't known that the thunderstorm had been going on nearly all day long, likely having been so wrapped up in her work with the sounds blocking out all other noises. Hubert sighed and offered a hand to her.

"Come out from under there. It's dusty, and you have nothing to be afraid of," he hesitated before adding "I'm here." Still, she shook her head quickly, but became thoughtful after a moment.

"I don't wanna come out… but why don't you come down here with me?" An innocent proposal, of course, yet he reeled back as though he were struck, blushing brightly.

"W-wha… do you have _any_ idea what you're implying?!" he sputtered. As if that weren't bad enough, she only appeared more confused.

"Mmmm… Not really! But you should totally come join me! What's there to lose?"

In his mind, it was incredibly unbecoming for a lieutenant to partake in something so childish, and yet, at this moment, he couldn't think of a retort. Or rather, there wasn't any reason why he _shouldn't_ accommodate, right? He had resigned himself to calm her down, after all, and there was no one here who could see him and ruin his image and status. With a sigh, he shrugged off his outer coat, carefully hung it on the back of a chair, and crawled next to her beneath the bed. Embarrassing, but he was more than willing to suck up his pride to make her happy.

When had he become such a pushover?

"This is so cool! Now it's like a sleepover or something!" Pascal spouted cheerfully. Hubert rolled his eyes and made himself comfortable. He had a feeling he'd be down here for a while. "Soooo… now whaddya wanna do?"

"What do I want to do? I'd like for us to get off of this dust and dirt-ridden floor!" he replied indignantly. Another wave of thunder passed by, and Pascal shuffled closer to him.

"N...not yet."

Again, Hubert was caught by surprise by her out-of-the-ordinary behavior. She was well and truly afraid, and he felt something catch in his heart.

"You know… I, too, used to be afraid of thunder. In fact, I feared a great many things while growing up," Hubert admitted. Pascal turned to him quickly, shock evident on her face.

"What? You were afraid of thunder, too?"

"D-don't act so surprised! It is completely natural to be afraid!"

She seemed to mull over this information, as if it were the first time she'd heard of such a concept. Why was this so hard for her to grasp? Wasn't she supposed to be the genius in their group?

"Understanding exactly _what_ something is doesn't help, I guess…" she nodded as she came to this conclusion. That explained some things, Hubert supposed. She must have spent her whole life analyzing every little thing, probably reading books and learning how things worked. Yet actually experiencing them was entirely different. And since thunderstorms were, apparently, rare in Zavhert, she probably didn't hear them often. Lhant, on the other hand, had its fair share of thunderstorms, and though he feared them, Asbel had always been there to assure him everything was fine. Yes… he had always stayed right by his side, and talked to him, distracting him from one of his biggest fears….

"Will you tell me more about when you were a kid?" Pascal scooted a little closer to him until they were nearly touching. He heard another peal of thunder and wrapped an arm over her shoulders, pulling her even closer, despite his nervousness at the proximity.

"Well, I suppose I could tell you about some of the trouble my brother had gotten us into when we were children…."

* * *

Fourier had returned to the enclave much later than she had intended, despite trying to hurry after hearing about the storm nearby. Although Pascal is a grown woman, she still worried for her, knowing how fearful she would become whenever she heard thunder. Only coming home to pick up a few supplies, she dual-purposed this trip to check on her little sister. For all she knew, she could've been working on her machinery again and been none the wiser about a thunderstorm passing by. Hopefully. It would do to remind her to sleep, eat, and bathe, anyways.

She opened the door quietly and peeked in, wrinkling her nose at the mess that lay before her. The first thing she noticed was the familiar, dark blue military coat hanging on an abandoned chair against the wall. Then, briefly, Fourier felt panic when she didn't see Pascal anywhere in her room. It wasn't until she saw a spot of red and white under the bed that she sighed with relief, followed immediately by confusion when she saw light blue as well.

Nothing could match the knowing smirk on her face when, as she kneeled down to see, she saw both Pascal and the young man she always talked about fast asleep in each other's arms. She exited the room silently, and secretly hoped that they might have thunderstorms more often near the enclave, if that's what it took to get them closer together.

* * *

 **I need more HubertXPascal in my life ;w; This was a more self-indulgent thing, than anything. Actually, I've had this story idea in my head for more than a year now, after reading a writing prompt on tumblr (person A is afraid of thunder and hides under a bed, and person B has to try to coax them to come out). It's been a while since I played Tales of Graces F, so apologies if I got any geographical facts wrong, or if anyone seems a little OOC, haha! Hope you enjoyed!**


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